Aurora Man Denies Shooting Student

Defendant Says He Was With Girlfriend

Bonzell Lamar Joyner told a packed courtroom Tuesday that he had no idea who shot 19-year-old Armando Mendez to death--the crime for which the 21-year-old Aurora man is on trial for his life.

At least three witnesses have identified Joyner during the trial as the man who walked up to a dazed and beaten Mendez on Oct. 27, 1994, and fired a bullet into his head, killing him.

But Joyner, testifying Tuesday in the Kane County courtroom of Judge Donald C. Hudson in St. Charles, denied being anywhere near the gasoline station on Aurora's east side when the gunshot ended a gang-related beating.

Joyner said he spent much of that night riding around with friend Joseph "Nigel" Robbins, who testified he drove Joyner to his girlfriend's apartment about the time Mendez died.

"Did you shoot Mendez?" Public Defender David Kliment asked his client.

"No, I didn't," Joyner replied.

Robbins and Joyner's girlfriend, Shalanda Stewart, testified that Joyner was at Stewart's apartment complex until about 11:30 that night when Robbins drove him home.

Police say no one mentioned that alibi until long after Joyner had been arrested a day after Mendez was slain.

Under questioning by Assistant State's Atty. Patrick Crimmins, Joyner said he did not tell police he had spent that day with Robbins because Robbins had a criminal history.

But Crimmins contended Joyner "created" his friend's involvement after the fact to serve as an alibi.

In court Tuesday, Joyner admitted he was associated with the gang that claimed the territory where Mendez died that night. But he denied that he was a member of the group of gang members who, mistakenly believing that Mendez was a member of a rival gang, attacked him.

Mendez, a College of DuPage student who had no gang affiliation, was on his way home from his job as a short-order cook when his car ran out of gas about five blocks from his family's east side home.

As he was pouring fuel into the tank from a portable gas can, he was punched by several gang members.

Mendez escaped his attackers, only to be caught and beaten again as he tried to seek refuge inside a locked gas station.

Of the 10 men charged with the crime, two have been convicted, a third was acquitted, two are awaiting trial and four pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Two of those men, Darryl Bailey and Kevin Scott, testified against Joyner, saying he was the shooter.

The jury of nine men and three women is scheduled to begin deliberations after hearing closing arguments Wednesday.